When Life Hits Pause: My ACL & MCL Injury Journey

Wow. Life has a way of throwing curveballs when you least expect it. Just when everything felt like it was moving forward in the best way possible, I tore both my ACL and MCL in my left knee.

As a hyper-productive dancer and small business owner, I don’t really know what it looks like to sit still. Maybe that’s exactly why I’m being forced to. Maybe this is life’s way of making me slow down, take a breath, and reassess. Who knows what doors this will open? Because if one thing is certain, it’s that when one door closes, another always opens.

The Injury

It happened in the middle of dance practice. A weird fall—one of those moments that you don’t really see coming but feel instantly. I knew something was wrong. The pain, the instability, the way my knee just wasn’t holding up. A trip to the ER later, X-rays came back clean. Relief? Not really. I knew deep down that something more was going on.

What followed was a battle just to get the right care. Three days of fighting to get an appointment with my primary care doctor, just to get a referral for an MRI. Then came the insurance chaos—phone calls, hospital searches, and the struggle to find an orthopedic specialist who actually deals with knee injuries in athletes. Persistence paid off, and thanks to a last-minute cancellation, I got an appointment the very next day.

The Road Ahead

This is going to be a long recovery. But instead of focusing on what I can’t do, I’m choosing to focus on what I can. This injury may have hit pause on certain things, but it’s not stopping me. If anything, it’s challenging me to adapt, pivot, and find new ways to grow—both personally and professionally.

So follow along, because this journey is just getting started. Let’s see all the things I accomplish along the way. Because if life is forcing me to slow down, I’m going to make every second of it count.